πυτίνη

Forms

πῡτῑ́νη (pūtī́nē) f (genitive πῡτῑ́νης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because it alternates with the Tarentine form βυτίνη (butínē) (voiced and voiceless consonants often interchange in such words) and because its suffix ⟨-ιν-⟩ is frequent in Pre-Greek.^[2][3] Chantraine finds the wavering between voiced and voiceless unsurprising in a word of this kind; if the voiced form is the older, it might belong with βύττος (búttos) and its group, but a borrowing cannot be excluded, as names of vessels are often foreign.^[4] Frisk notes that, like many names of vessels, it has no etymology.^[5]

Only the form with ⟨β⟩ is found in other languages.^[4] It was borrowed as Vulgar Latin butina, from which come Old English byden, Old High German butin and German Bütte.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first known as the title of a comedy by Cratinus, in the 5th century BC.^[6][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Pollux describes the vessel as a flask covered with plaited osier.^[6][4] Aristophanes has the derived adjective πυτιναῖος (putinaîos), and the scholia the compound πυτινοπλόκος (putinoplókos), “weaver of wicker flasks”.^[4] Hesychius glosses it as a woven wine flagon, adding that prisoners usually made such flasks along with baskets, and also as a chamber pot; the Tarentine form has both senses too.^[7][2][6]

Πάπυρος records the word in Modern Greek as well, also spelled πιτύνη (pitýni), for a wicker-covered flask.^[8]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Cratinus gives it as the title of a comedy.^[6][2][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses the derived adjective πυτιναῖος (putinaîos).^[4][9]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux describes it as a wine flask wrapped in plaited osier.^[6][4][9]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as a woven wine flagon and as a chamber pot.^[7][9]
• Modern Greek – Πάπυρος records πυτίνη (pytíni) for a wicker-covered flask.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flask or flagon for wine, covered with plaited osier.^[6][1][10]
2. A chamber pot.^[6][7]

Word family

• πυτιναῖος (putinaîos)
• πυτινοπλόκος (putinoplókos)

Related words

• βυτίνη (butínē)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
8. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.